46 years ago Shelby and I were members
of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
where the birth where brother Dan Parks father of the UW Parks
was pastor. I was a very young preacher and
One Sunday evening a tall slim fella Looked to me like he was
about 55 maybe 60 years old came in and brother Parks asked him
to preach His name was Harry Graham. First time I'd ever seen
Brother Harry, as you know, we became very dear friends later. And that night, Brother Graham
stepped in the pulpit and announced for his subject the golden chain
of grace. And my, what a message. I remember
it well. I sat and listened and rapped
with what he had to say. For the most part, I'd never
heard anybody say in public the things he said that night from
the pulpit. And I was just delighted. And
I thought I would sure like to preach on that subject sometime.
And then last week, I reread William Ruston's Defense of Particular
Redemption. It was a book written, I think
it was first published about 1810 or 1820, somewhere in there. And in the opening pages of the
book, he had just a couple of pages. giving what he called
the golden chain of grace. And I thought, well, Brother
Harry read the same thing I did. And that's my subject this morning.
The golden chain of grace. Revelation chapter 20. Revelation
chapter 20. The book of Revelation gives
us seven visions. Seven visions of the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior. Now
almost every time I turn to a passage in Revelation, I tell you this
because it needs to be stated and stated and stated again in
this day when so many people make the book of Revelation to
be some kind of a book about the Middle East and Russia and
the United States and all that stuff. The book of Revelation
called in the opening words of the first verse of the first
chapter the revelation of Jesus Christ. That means the whole
of the book of Revelation is the revelation God gave to his
servant John concerning the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this book he gives that revelation
by seven distinct visions. Each vision stands on its own. Each vision is a picture given
in language to describe for us the certain triumph of Christ
and his gospel. The certain triumph of Christ
and his church by the gospel. So that he's telling us from
beginning to end, each vision goes from the first advent of
Christ to his glorious second advent. Each one covers this
whole gospel age, and each vision is given, and all the visions
together in this blessed, blessed final book of Holy Scripture,
each vision is given to tell us that Christ does and shall
prevail. Christ does and shall prevail. Jesus Christ, our God, our Redeemer,
our Savior, sits upon the throne of the universe. It's called
the throne of grace. And sitting upon that throne,
He holds in His hands the reigns of the universe as the absolute
monarch of the universe. Everything is under His feet. Everything! obeys His will. Everything accomplishes His purpose. In other words, He's saying,
babiestus, everything's all right. Everything's all right. All is
well, Christ is on His throne. All is well, God is saving His
people. All is well, God is accomplishing
His purpose. And here in Revelation 20, we
come to the final pages of the book. Revelation 20 verse 1. Chapter 19 brought us to the
very end of world history, the final day of judgment. In chapter
20, John returns to the beginning of this gospel age and it tells
us what happened when Christ Jesus our Lord finished his work
on this earth. And I saw an angel come down
from heaven. and in the key of the bottomless
pits, and a great chain in his hand. Here our Lord Jesus Christ
is described as the angel, a great angel, the angel of God's presence,
the angel of the covenant. Now, oftentimes folks say, you
can't say Christ is an angel, that would make him a creature.
Oh, don't think like that. The word angel simply means messenger. Jesus Christ is the messenger
of the covenant. He is that angel, that messenger
who is called the word of God, for he is himself God. The Lord
Jesus, our mighty covenant angel, that mighty messenger from God,
came down from heaven. He who is God has the key to
the bottomless pit. He who is God is the only one
who could have the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain
in his hand. This angel comes down from heaven
with a chain. A chain is an instrument by which
things are restrained and controlled. And he came down here for this
purpose. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which
is the devil and Satan, the dragon, the monster of hell, that old
serpent, the slithering deceitful liar, the devil, that cunning
crafty one, Satan, our accuser. He laid hold of him and bound
him a thousand years. Bound him a thousand years. Now that word thousand is always
in the plural, never in the singular. There's no such thing as a singular
form of the word thousand in the Greek language. So John is
saying he bound him for thousands of years, for a long but definite
period of time. A long period of time, but a
definite period of time known only to God. And when he bound
him, he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up. and set
a seal on him. The Lord Jesus, with this mighty
chain in his hand, has bound the devil, the serpent, the deceiver,
the dragon of hell, Satan. He's cast him into the bottomless
pit and put a lid on the pit and sealed the lid so that Satan
could not deceive the nations anymore. Do you see that? That
he should deceive the nations no more. God scattered his elect
among the four corners of the earth in every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. And the gospel was withheld from
the nations of the world all during the Old Testament economy.
But the Jews who would not receive the light God gave them, now
have the light taken from them, and Satan is bound, and he no
longer deceives the nations of the world. That is, he no longer
deceives God's elect scattered in the four corners of the earth. He should deceive the nations
no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after
that, he must be loosed a little season. Now the sequence of events
is perfectly clear. This is clearly figurative language. The thousand years doesn't represent
a specific thousand years. And the golden chain in the Savior's
hand doesn't represent a physical chain, but rather it represents
a definite period of time, the thousand years, and the chain
represents restraining power, the restraining power of God.
Our Lord's first advent is followed by this period of time called
a thousand years, thousands of years in which Satan is bound.
Throughout the gospel age, throughout the gospel age, Satan is bound. Until the very end, called a
little season, when he must be loosed. Satan is bound, if you
read again this 20th chapter of Revelation, before our Lord's
second advent. So this thousand years is not
a time that succeeds the second coming of Christ, but rather
it is a period of time that precedes our Lord's second coming. We
do not look for some physical earthly millennial kingdom in
which the Lord Jesus is going to come again and sit on a throne
over in Jerusalem and make all the world wish they were Jews.
That's just not going to happen. That's a pipe dream invented
by folks for some strange reason I haven't yet figured out. The
Lord Jesus sits today on the throne of the universe and he
rules the universe king over all today by virtue of his accomplished
redemption for his people. He rules the universe for the
saving of his people throughout this gospel age at the close
of this thousand years. That is, at the close of this
gospel age, Satan is loosed for a little season. Loosed, but
still restrained. Loosed, but still governed. Turned
loose by the judgment of God to again deceive folks who have
heard, but would not believe the gospel. And God sends him
out so that they might believe a lie. All those who receive
not the love of the truth might be damned by a lie. God sending them a strong delusion
by Satan's deceit. And the loosing of Satan is followed
by our Lord's glorious second advent when he makes all things
new and brings his children into the final consummation of everlasting
salvation. The purpose of our Lord's incarnation
is the salvation of His people by the shedding of His blood,
by bringing in everlasting righteousness. That's how God saves sinners.
But in order that He should save His people, Satan must be bound. And the Lord Jesus bound the
devil. Bound the devil with this mighty
chain in the hands of this mighty angel. Come down the messenger
from God to reveal to us God's purpose and God's grace in the
saving of his people. Satan is bound. The binding began
during our Lord's earthly ministry. You'll remember the Lord Jesus
was, soon as he was baptized, was driven of the spirit in the
wilderness and there he was tempted of the devil. And Satan tempted
the Lord Jesus, but our Lord Jesus overcame him with the Word
of God. Our Lord, during His earthly
ministry, began to cast out demons, to heal sick, the lame, the haught,
the blind, and to raise the dead. And thus, Satan's power, his
usurped monarchy, was being restrained already. When our Lord Jesus
went into Gethsemane's garden, there Satan tempted the master
again. made his final assault upon the
Son of God, attempting to keep him from going to the cross,
that being the means God had ordained for the crushing of
the serpent's head. And so Satan brings to the Savior's
mind all the horror that he must endure when he's made sin for
us, forsaken of God, made a curse for us, made to suffer the horrid
wrath of God as our substitute. And though our Lord Jesus was
sorrowful even unto death, and His heart broke, and His sweat
drops of blood fall into the ground, He prayed. And the Scripture
tells us He was heard in that He feared, and He braced Himself
up. And He said, Father, what shall
I say? Save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And he went on to the curse tree. And there he takes Satan. As it were, taking the lion by
the beard, as David did, the lion in his name. And he slew
the dragon of hell. He slew the dragon of hell, binding
him. and casting him into the bottomless
pit and setting a seal upon him. Today, he continues to bind Satan. By the preaching of the gospel,
wherever the Lord Jesus enters in, by the power of his grace
into the strong man's house, the power of the strong man is
bound. He's bound up and he's cast out. But what is this chain by which
The Son of God binds Satan. This great chain in the hand
of the angel of the covenant. I've called it the golden chain
of grace. And it's a chain with 12 links
that are unbreakable. And they're more precious than
buckets of gold. I've chosen 12 because these
12 links picture the whole accomplishment of the salvation of God's elect.
In these latter two chapters of the book of Revelation, twelve
is used continually. Used to speak of the whole Israel
of God. Used to speak of the whole salvation
of God's people. Used to speak of the finished
work of our Lord Jesus. Twelve stars are crowning the
heads of God's church. There are twelve tribes to the
nations of God's Israel. Twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Twelve foundations to the Holy City. Twelve gates in the New
Jerusalem. Twelve pearls in the gates. Twelve
angels at the gates. And twelve manna of fruit from
the Tree of Life. So let's look at these links
in this golden chain of grace very briefly. I can hardly do
more than give them to you and read a statement or two from
Scripture. You can look at the scriptures later, just listen
carefully. The first link is God's everlasting
love. There is a people in this world
loved of God from eternity. Not all people, but a specific
people. If God loves all men, He has
a mighty strange way of showing it. Would God send a world to hell
with the flood if He loved them? Would God open up the earth and
swallow up the sons of Korah into hell if He loved them? What
absurdity, what absurdity to talk about God loving all men.
Some have suggested, many have suggested, God loves all men
until at last He gives up on them. And then the love of God
is turned into the wrath of God and He casts them into hell.
That makes God as unstable as water. That makes God changeable. That's not a possibility. Now
hear this. All of whom God says, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love shall be saved. And that's one of the links in
this golden chain. One of the links in this chain
by which Satan is bound. The Lord Jesus comes to this
earth on an errand of mercy sent by his own everlasting love to
save his people from their sins. The mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting. His righteousness to children's
children. The Lord Jesus prayed, Father, Make the world to know. Make the world to know. When
you get done with everything, make the world to know that thou
hast loved them as thou hast loved me. And thou lovest me
from the foundation of the world. The second link in this chain
is God's election. Free, unconditional election
of grace. God's everlasting love to poor
sinners in Christ Jesus is the fountain of God's election. Election, far from being a hard
doctrine, is the most blessed of doctrines. God has chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love. He chose us because he loved
us. He said, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. And those who are loved of God
and chosen of God must be saved. There's no possibility that God
will not save His elect. No possibility God will not save
those whom He loved with an everlasting love. We're about to host our
conference, and I always try in preparation of the conference
to bring a message dealing with God's sovereign grace, as I'm
trying to do today. Understand this. We preach the
gospel. We preach the gospel everywhere. We preach the gospel to men everywhere,
wherever God opens the door, wherever God gives the opportunity,
not with the hope that somehow, somebody might pretty please
let Jesus save them. Oh no, oh no. We preach the gospel
with the blessed assurance, with the blessed assurance that God's
elect shall be saved by the preaching of the word, by the preaching
of the gospel of his free grace. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Our Savior said, you have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And every sinner saved by
God's grace gladly acknowledges it. We're here today worshiping
God because he chose us. If he hadn't chosen you, Lindsey,
you'd be sitting where everybody else is, worshiping a stump,
worshiping a God who has no hands, no eyes, no feet, except your
hands, your eyes, and your feet. Worshiping God who tries to do
what he can't do, wants what he doesn't have, desires what
he can't accomplish. Oh, no, no, no. We worship him
because he chose us. And our Lord Jesus has bound
Satan according to this purpose so that he can do no harm to
God's elect. He can do no injury to God's
elect. Here's the third link. It is
God's eternal predestination. Every sinner loved of God from
eternity, chosen in Christ Jesus, was predestinated unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. predestinated to the
glorious liberty of the sons of God, adopted before the world
was as the children of God. But we knew nothing about the
adoption until he brings us by the power of his grace to lift
our hearts to heaven and cry, Abba Father, trust in Christ
Jesus the Lord. And now we shall live forever
in that which is described as the glorious liberty of the sons
of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. God's taken us and made us his
children. Oh, what love! Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. Ah, when we shall see Him. We'll
see Him as He is and we'll be like Him. This that Paul describes
as the glorious liberty of the sons of God. He says, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that awaits us. Whatever it is that we endure
by way of hardship, affliction, adversity, pain, sorrow in this
world is not even worth putting in the balances with the glory that awaits us. All sons and daughters of God
Almighty, rest assured in the midst of sorrow that our Redeemer,
our elder brother, holds Satan with a mighty chain in his hand
and restrains him from doing harm in his kingdom because we
are God's adopted ones. The fourth golden link in this
golden chain of grace is effectual atonement, particular redemption,
limited atonement. Now what does that mean, preacher?
That means that those who are loved with an everlasting love,
elected and predestinated by our God, they, all of them, and
only them, were redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Good Shepherd, when he laid down his life for the
sheep. God's elect were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Only
God's elect. Now, I'd like to spend a lot
of time here, and I spend a good bit more time here than most
folks think I should, but understand this. I stress it because I know
many preachers I've known now for some I've known for 47, 48
years, many preachers, many preachers, who once preached the gospel
of God's free grace as I preach it to you today, who have found
it convenient. They found it convenient because
they think it's expedient for them, for the success of their
ministries, to compromise the message of the atonement and
say, we can't consistently call upon sinners to believe on Christ.
If we do not recognize that there's some sense in which Christ died
for all men. Now you listen to me. You listen
to me. Bill Raleigh, if there's some
sense in which Christ died for all men, then there's some sense
in which Christ's death doesn't mean a thing. There's some sense
in which Christ died in vain. If Christ died for folks in hell,
then Christ died for nothing with regard to those folks in
hell. That's absurd and blasphemous. Limited atonement is the clear,
undeniable, foundation doctrine of Holy Scripture. You deny the
effectual atonement of Christ, deny that Jesus Christ actually
redeemed the people for whom he died, and that all of those
redeemed by his blood shall be saved. You deny his Godhead,
you deny all his attributes, you deny the very gospel of God,
and you deny the foundation of our faith in Holy Scripture.
Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob. He that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not. Fear not. This God says to Jacob. This God says to Israel. That
is to His elect. Fear not! Now here's the reason
you don't have anything to be afraid of. Are you listening? Here's the reason. I have redeemed
thee. I have redeemed them. If Christ
bought me with his blood, hell can't touch me. You understand
that? If Christ bought me with his
blood, justice has nothing against me. If Christ bought me with
his blood, my sins are put away. If Christ bought me with his
blood, I have no reason ever to fear anything or anybody in
heaven, earth, or hell. Here's the fifth one. Irresistible grace. Irresistible
grace. Effectual calling. There is a
distinction to be made between calling and regeneration, theologically,
but effectual calling is that call of God by which sinners
are given life by the Holy Spirit and graciously forced to believe
on the Son of God. Graciously forced to come to
Him. Graciously forced to bow to Him. He said, Preacher, do you mean
God saved sinners against their will? If He didn't save you against
your will, you'd never be saved. He saved sinners against their
will. with their free consent because
he makes them willing in the day of his power. It's called
irresistible grace because it's grace you can't resist. It's called an effectual call
because it gets the job done. Those sinners who are called
of God are called by the gospel and Paul says the word works
effectually in you. It works effectually in you. When I was a boy, like most of
you men, parents weren't scared to death to let the children
out of the sights. If I could get out of the house before I
had assignments giving me to work all day, when my folks were
at home, I would get out and us boys would play all day long. Or get into trouble all day,
one of the two. Usually we mixed the two. But we'd be out all
day Just about dark. I mean, we lived in the South,
and it would get dark kind of late. But just about dark, we
had to come home. And I could hear Don Johnson's
mother call him. He lived right behind them. And
she'd call Don, and he would perk up and run home. And I didn't
pay any attention to it. I didn't pay one bit of attention
to it. And I'd hear Tommy Bailiff's mother call him. She'd call Tommy,
and he'd perk up and run home. And I didn't pay any attention
to it. But when Mrs. Fortner stepped out on her front
porch, I could hear her for a mile. And she called, Don. And I perked
up, and I took off home. How come? Because I knew she
was calling me. And going home beat all the consequences
if I didn't go home. So I was perfectly willing to
go most of the time. I knew if I didn't go, I was
going to hurt for it. Now that's not much of an illustration,
but it's the best I can do. When God the Holy Spirit calls
sinners to Christ, you know he called you. For he calls his
own sheep by name. And when he calls you, you will
know he's called you. You won't need a preacher or
a soul winner to tell you about it. You won't need somebody to
con you into making a profession of faith. You won't need somebody
to take you down the Roman's road. You won't need somebody to sing
just as I am 25 times. You will know he called you for
his sheep hear his voice. And all who are called by him
are willing to come. Made willing in the day of his
power. Not now because we're afraid of Him, Sam, but because
we want Him. Because Christ has been revealed
in our hearts and compels us by the sweet constraint of His
love for us to come to Him. Here's the sixth link in this
golden chain. Forgiveness. Divine forgiveness. Free forgiveness. Complete forgiveness. Every chosen redeemed sinner
called by grace trusts Christ. And every sinner who trusts Christ
is forgiven of all sin. God sends his servants into the
world. God sends his church into the
world. God sends you and me into the
world to preach the gospel. not to give folks counsel, not
to give folks good advice, but to preach. The word preach simply
means to announce, to declare, to proclaim. God's servants don't tell you what you need to do. God's servants don't tell you
what you need to do for Jesus. God's servants don't tell you
what you need to do for God. God's servants tell sinners what
God's done for them in His Son. He says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
the Lord's hand double for all her sins. God says, go tell my
people. I, even I am he that blotteth
out by transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember
thy sins. Oh, who is a God like unto thee
that pardoneth iniquity? This is God's glory. He forgives iniquity, transgression,
and sin. He forgives iniquity, transgression,
and sin. Completely. Absolutely. Forever. So that those sinners,
every sinner who looks to Christ, being compelled by the grace
of God to look out of himself to the Redeemer, looking to Christ,
has this word from God. your sins are gone. I've cast
them into the depth of the sea. They are no more. Here's the
seventh link in this golden chain of grace. Free, complete justification. Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Made the very
righteousness of God in Christ. We take this gospel and proclaim
this gospel and by the preaching of this gospel our Savior yet
binds the fiend of hell and binds him specifically to the sinner
who is called by his grace and that sinner stands before God
justified. Righteous. Righteous. Righteous. As God made our sin
our Savior's sin. He made our Savior's righteousness
our righteousness. As He rewarded our Savior for
our iniquity, He rewards us for His righteousness. The righteousness
of God made ours, so that our name is called as His name, Jehovah
Zedkenu, the Lord our righteousness. When God in heaven looks on me,
He sees righteousness. Do you understand that? He doesn't, Whoppy doesn't pretend
to see righteousness. He sees righteousness. He's not
deceived by what he sees. He sees righteousness. For he
has made me the very righteousness of God. Alright, here's the eighth
link. Perfect sanctification. Not only
does the Lord God declare His people righteous, He makes them
righteous. He puts righteousness in us. We're sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. Sanctified by the three
persons of the Godhead, sanctified by the work of God the Father
in election, the work of God the Son in redemption, and the
work of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. so that God separated
us to Himself and made us holy, declaring us holy in the Lamb
before the world was. Christ redeemed us and took away
our sins and made us righteous before the law of God by His
obedience unto death. And God the Holy Spirit comes
in the new birth and makes chosen, redeemed sinners, loved of God,
predestinated to the sons of God, makes chosen, redeemed sinners,
to be partakers of the divine nature in the new birth, putting
that holiness in us without which no man shall see the Lord. But
there's another link. Here's the ninth link in this
chain, chain by which God rules the universe. It's called promises. Special promises. The promises
of God. Promises of grace made to, and
made sure to, all God's elect in Christ Jesus, in whom all
the promises of God are yea, and in Him, amen. What promises? Those promises by which we are
made partakers of the divine nature. That's how the Holy Spirit
describes them. Promises by which we are made
partakers of the divine nature. Here they are. They shall be
my people and I will be their God. They shall be my people and I
will be their God. Some time ago, I forgot where
I was going. I was flying out of Louisville Airport, going
to preach the gospel. And I don't advertise that fact. When I get on the plane, I'm
in crowds. I hate for folks to start acting religious. And as
soon as they find out I'm a preacher, they start to act religious.
And kind of like Mr. Trump, you know, we heard him
the other day. He said, well, of course I'm
a Christian. I went to church Easter Sunday. Folks start to
act religious when they find out you're a preacher, and they
talk a lot about it. And so I try not to display that.
But I scanned in my briefcase, and something was in there. I
caught their alarm system, and they had to open it up. And the
security guard opened it up and saw a Bible there. He said, are
you a preacher? I said, yeah. He said, where are you from? I said,
Danville, Kentucky. And he asked me if I knew any preachers down
here. I said, yeah, I know it. He said, what do you think about
this predestination stuff? I think it's glorious. What? I think it's glorious. He said,
we believe in predestination. Why are you going to preach?
I said, because I believe in predestination. God said, I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. And by that, he rules the universe. By that, he raises up kings and
puts down kings. By that, he raises up nations
and puts down nations. By that, he surrounds his elect
and protects them from harm. And this is what he says to them.
Are you listening? No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper. Skip, I wish I halfway believed
that. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And
every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou
shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. I've often told you of the older
saint, a dear old lady. A young pastor was visiting her
one day, and he got ready to leave and picked up a Bible and
started to read. And he was looking for a passage to read, and she
had notes all through it. Every time he'd turn a page or
two, he'd see T and P. T and P. And he just kept thumbing
through the Bible. From front to back and back to
front, T and P. T and P. And curiosity got the
best of him. He said, sister, I see all through
your Bible, you've got verses marked T and P. What does that
T and P stand for? She said, oh honey, those are
the promises of God. Tried and proved. Tried and proved. She ever said something to me
this past week. Another display of God's intervention.
She said, you can't say anything except God did that just for
you. And I responded by saying, I ought to expect that all the
time. God does wondrous things, children
of God. just for you because he said
I will be their God and they shall be my people and hell ain't
gonna prevent it. In fact, all of hell shall only
be instruments by which I will be their God and they shall be
my people. Here's the tenth link in this
golden chain of grace. an endless supply of grace. Grace sufficient to meet our
need, our every need, as we travel through this world as Zion's
pilgrim. Though loved of God, elected,
predestined, redeemed, called, pardoned, justified, and sanctified,
though walking about with God's promises in our hand, God's people
in this world continually deal with difficulty, opposition,
conflict. Read the 12th chapter of Revelation.
You see that Satan and the legions of hell constantly are at war
with God's church. The world, the flesh, and the
devil opposing us. And God gives this promise. My
grace is sufficient for thee. And I'll tell you what I've discovered. His grace is sufficient for me. No matter where He puts me, no
matter what He puts in my hands, no matter what the experience,
His grace is sufficient. Hold up my goings in thy paths
that my footsteps slip not. For the Lord is a sun and a shield.
The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he
withhold from them that walk uprightly. That brings me to
the 11th link. And what a precious golden link
this is. The sure and certain preservation
of God's elect in Christ. You and I are weaker than water. You and me, weaker than water. I'm more and more overwhelmed,
David, with this fact. All of those things we ought
to be and do, all of those things we desire to be and do are utterly
impossible for us to be and do except God work in us. We believe Him only as He enables
us to believe Him. We love Him only as He enables
us to love Him. We have each one of us grace
given according to the measure of Christ But that grace must
be given to us, measured out by Him, or we would not possess
it, and we would not practice it, and we would not experience
it. But our Lord graciously holds
us in His hand, and preserves us by His grace. He tells us, there's no temptation
taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He will not suffer you to be
tempted, above that you're able. But will with the temptation
make a way of escape that you may be able to balance. He preserveth the way of his
saints. Aren't you thankful? I've often told you, I can show
you the notes When I was 19 years old, I was required in class
to write out a sermon, and I wrote out a sermon on God's faithfulness.
Pretty much followed John Gill's body divinity, so it was perfectly
good, perfectly orthodox, exactly what I would preach to you today. But I didn't know anything at
all about it. It was all just theory. Now, oh, bless His name. Now, 46 years later, I'm here
to tell you I know God's as good as His Word. He's faithful. He's faithful. You can safely
trust Him, for He in His faithfulness preserves us. and by this link
in the chain of His grace binds Satan and prevents him from harming
us. The twelfth link in this glorious
chain of grace is heavenly glory. Every sinner
loved of God from eternity, chosen in Christ, predestined to heavenly
glory, redeemed by Christ. Every sinner justified, sanctified,
and forgiven by grace. Every sinner to whom God says
I will be their God and they shall be my people. Every sinner.
Every sinner preserved by the hand of God. Every sinner who
walks in God's grace sufficient for him day by day shall at last
be with Christ in his glory. For the Lord God has promised
He will give grace and glory. And by this, our God rules the
universe. Blessed be thou, Lord God of
Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for
all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine
is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over
all. And in thine hand is power and
might, and in thine hand is to make great and to give strength
unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee and praise thy glorious name. Amen. Let's sing a hymn
to his praise. We'll be dismissed.